The McRae Series 01 - Twelve Days Sam and Rachel

been happy with me."
    "You haven't had a lot of time to be happy, but you've stuck together just the same. That says a lot, Rachel."
    Rachel hoped it did. She hoped there was something left the two of them could build upon.
    Something like love.

Chapter 12

    "Emma said we get to stay here after Christmas," Zach said.
    Sam paused with his hands deep inside a box of dusty odds and ends at an estate sale in the next county. He was always on the lookout for period things that could be used in his restoration business, and this sale looked like a good one. There were several old doors and light fixtures, mantelpieces, maybe some furniture. Zach found it all fascinating, and he'd proven to be good company.
    "That's right," Sam said. "You can stay as long as you need to."
    "Till Mommy comes back?" he asked quite seriously.
    "As long as you need to."
    Sam was starting to wonder if their mother was ever coming back, starting to think it was up to him to make sure these kids were taken care of. Miriam wasn't making any progress, and it seemed so odd that no one was looking for them. If they had the kind, caring mother Emma claimed, surely she would have come back by now, if she was able. Emma was convinced her father was a monster, and Sam wondered if the man had already gotten his hands on their mother.
    After all, she seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth.
    "Zach?" he asked very gently. "Did your mother get sick a lot?"
    Emma said that, and he'd thought the woman might be a drunk. Being sick was a euphemism drunks hid behind. Sam certainly knew that. Drunks blacked out, too. Lost days. But it had been almost two weeks.
    "Yeah," Zach said. "She got sick."
    "Sick how?"
    "I dunno. Just sick," Zach said.
    "Fever? Cough? Cold? Throwing up? Sleeping a lot?"
    "Uh-huh," he said.
    They weren't going to get anywhere with that line of questioning. "Did you all live around here?" he tried instead. "I mean, you were at the motel. You'd been in the car, right?"
    "Uh huh."
    "How long?"
    "Forever," Zach said, giving a long-suffering sigh.
    "You mean a few hours? A few days?"
    "Days and days," he said dramatically.
    "Where were you going?"
    "I dunno."
    "Do you remember your dad, Zach?"
    He shook his head back and forth.
    "You haven't seen him in a long time?"
    "Uh-uh."
    "You mean not for months? Or years?"
    "Years," Zach agreed.
    "Was he there... say on your last birthday?"
    "Uh-uh."
    "The one before that?"
    "Uh uh."
    Okay, so they hadn't been running away just now. Which meant they had to be trying to get to someone or someplace. But who? And why?
    "When you got in the car, did your mother say why you were doing that? Were you trying to get to someone?"
    "Someone who'd help us, because Mommy was sick and having trouble taking care of us."
    So there was someone out there somewhere. "Do you know that person's name?"
    "No," Zach said. "But we don't need 'em, right? 'Cause we can stay with you and Miss Rachel?"
    "Yes. You can. I just... I know you want your mother back. I'm trying to figure out where she might be so we can get her back for you."
    No matter what his mother was like, Zach probably still wanted her back. To most kids, any mother was better than no mother at all. Sam knew that.
    "Where's your mommy?" Zach asked.
    "She died," Sam said gently.
    "And she didn't come back?"
    "No," Sam said. "When people die, they don't come back."
    "Do you think my mommy died?"
    "No. I don't have any reason to think that," Sam said quickly.
    "But she promised she'd come back." His lower lip started trembling.
    "I know."
    "I do remember somethin'," Zach offered. "I heard Mommy and Emma talking when they thought I was asleep. They said the name of the town, and my mommy got all upset."
    "What was the name?"
    "I can't remember." He frowned. "But it had a funny name. Like a dog. I remember that part."
    "A name like a dog? That's it?"
    Zach nodded.
    A dog? Nothing came to mind.
    "Hey, are we gonna buy somethin'?" Zach asked, his attention caught on an old bicycle in the corner of the barn.
    "If we find what we're looking for," Sam said.
    "What are we lookin' for?"
    "Something for Rachel. Something very special, and I think I see it over there. Can you keep a secret?"
    Zach nodded vigorously.
    "Okay. Come on. I'll show you."
    And he took the little boy by the hand, struck by the trust he offered so freely and by how much the boy needed. He could do this, Sam told himself. He could help this child through whatever lay ahead. He could make sure